A brilliant game. The best in the line of Expert Rules Yu-Gi-Oh! Titles.
Other Expert Rules games suffered from lack of a story, a horrible deck creation system, bad AI, and other flaws. I am glad to say that this game has fixed a lot.
Lets start at the things it fixed from previous Yu-Gi-Oh! Titles. For the first one it has added a storyline. It has fixed the deck creation system by making it clean and easy to go through. It has fixed the AI to an extent. But it still suffers from music issues. And a lot of other flaws.
The flaws in the game include a horrible translation. The card Deck Destruction Virus hasn't even been translated right. The AI is also flawwed with sudden victory draws and drawing nothing but what it needs through a whole duel. But while the AI isn't the best it is the best out of all the Yu-Gi-Oh! titles.
The game's storyline is based off of the Battle City season of the Anime. However it is not Battle City. Seto Kaiba throws a tournament consisting of the Beginner's Cup and the Expert Cup. Other storylines have their own versions in this game. Such as Marik, who's story appears after the tournament. And Noah, who traps you in a virtual world during the tournament. Overall the story is nice and it was well thought out.
The sound and music really need reworking. The music during duels alone is enough to drive you mad! The monster summonings are pretty good and so is most sound effects. But the sound effects are bland and just taken from the GBA, or made in the likeness of a GBA title, and get repetitive to listen to.
The game's score is gonna be boosted a bit due to the fact that it added something needed. A tutorial! While fully text based the tutorial is enough to get new players info on how to play. Nightmare Troubador excells in an area never put in Yu-Gi-Oh! handheld games before. It includes a full 3D look of the dueling field and 2D sprites of the monsters. I am sad to report that no Yu-Gi-Oh! Console game has done this.
The touch screen is used a LOT! and I mean a LOT! You can play the entire game without pressing a button! However they do have button controls for those who tire of using the stylus. The bottom screen, outside of duels, shows a map or a 3D view of an area you are in. The map can be searched to find duelists then you can travel to the duelist and duel them. Inside of duels the bottom screen is a full 2D view of the same duel field. You can use the touch controls to duel!
The gameplay is nice because it follows the Trading Card game as much as it can. Complaints can be found in the fact that there is no "ARE YOU SURE" button popup just in case you didn't mean to do something. There is horribly lucky AI, especially with Joey Wheeler, and can draw the right thing at the right time more then you can. Lack of things to do other then dueling also hold this title, and most Expert Rules titles, back.
Buying card packs is very annoying in this game. You pay 150 Kaiba Corp Points (KCP) per pack and only get 5 cards. Those cards may or may not be new. As you collect cards you have an indicator telling you how much percentage you have of that pack. Once you gain 80% Solomon Moto (Yugi's Grandpa) will give you a list of all the cards in that pack.
Once you have obtained 80% of a pack, or one of a certain card in general, and have won the Expert Cup you have the ability to use the password machine. But to be frank it isn't worth it. 1,000 KCP just to buy 1 card. And you can only get one from a pack you have 80% from or you already have in your trunk. This is a big letdown especially due to the fact that in other games you could freely get cards from the machine.
Overall I must say the game is a great title for Yu-Gi-Oh! fans and those who like the Trading Card Game. But hopefully some things can be improved in a sequel for it.